LTS

Who does he displace in the top 6? Gionta? You could swap the two today and Moulson would be an improvement. He's not going to replace Ennis, O'Reilly, Kane, Eichel, Reinhart. So you could swap him with McGinn but the chemistry there is perfect right now. So I don't think he belongs in the top 6. He's a player that can move up and down the top 3 lines and not harm the team. His scoring will be down because of it but all the players scoring would be down if they were isolated on a 3rd line with Girgensons (underperforming) and Larsson. His contract is higher than it should be but it's not because of his talent... he never would have received this contract from elsewhere. But it looked really good for the Sabres to have a player WANT to come back to them and especially someone of Moulson's stature in the league. He got a bit more and he has the potential to be that $5M player but I'm not down on him.

So.. yea. That's perfect corporate thinking. Let's delay the game 8-10 minutes so fans get ticked off or cheer for 30 seconds because once play starts again they aren't going to care. Yep.. awesome thinking. This rule sucks.. pure and simple. I don't care if the Sabres give up a goal because a guy was offside. There is no need to stop the game for extended periods of time just to see. Move on.. ironically this is reducing scoring in a league that needs more of it. Great choice!

I'll got to a game or two a year if I can. If I get offered tickets I'll do my best to go. I don't avoid it because of the product on the ice or the arena atmosphere. It's simple economics and time. Especially living in Rochester. Do I want fans to be cheering and such when I am there? Sure. Do I care that much? No, not really. I love hockey, all kinds of hockey at all levels. So I will be entertained enough. I can do without all the music between breaks. The game of hockey is methodical now. It's all systems and covering the ice. You can look at analytics and say that it probably had quite a bit to do with it. The creative player is less creative because the system says they should do X or Y most of the time. Wide open hockey played on the brink of scoring with wild chances just does not exist anymore. I don't think it has anything to do with ice size, player size, goalie equipment, etc. I think it has to do with players being worried about their position in the lineup and coaches and GMs looking at the door wondering how risky they can play it before they end up out of a job. You see at times wide open play in the game. Players are up and down the ice and it's crazy. Fans love it. But coaches and GMs are going to tell you that the team shouldn't be playing that way. This is perhaps where the fluid nature of hockey actually hurts it. Players are a bit more cautious because one mis-step and things go the other way too quickly. Better to be safe than sorry I suppose. Who knows.. I could be completely off my rocker here too.

" is anything that exists outside the dominant narrative." - wow.. 21st century speak at it's finest. It's all good. Thanks for sharing, I had guessed as it seemed more generic a term.

But is he really performing poorly? I think he can do better but he still remains one of the best +/- on the team and he's tied for 6th in scoring behind people you expect him to be behind (well, not McGinn so much). All the while he's not been playing in the top 6. I get his contract number, but he's reliable. I don't think he's as bad as people make him out to be and given his ability to be better I think there's less of a chance he's gone next year.

The way I see McGinn is that he'll pull a decent trade offer and Murray will move him and try to bring him back next season. The way they are playing McGinn right now looks to me as they are driving up his value for the trade deadline. In addition, by giving him a good shot at a long playoff run it would build some good will between the Sabres and McGinn. No guarantees he's coming back but there's no guarantees anyway. I think they do this only if they are not in a playoff position at the trade deadline. (even if they are 1 point out they move him as I suspect they get a good deal for him). I know others will disagree on the value of the playoffs. The same is true for Legwand and Johnson. The Sabres goaltending future right now is all Swedish. Moulson will be around for awhile. I don't think they are going to drop him. He's got a role to fill and while it's a lot of money he isn't an AHL plug which is what they would have to have in his position if they didn't bring him back. He can take Gionta's spot in 2 years.

Interesting stat. Clearly hitting is critical. :) Is this in 5v5? Just something you observed or is there any kind of video? I'm totally curious from the hockey strategy viewpoint. Pull vs. root is the question. What is the difference? Would you say rooting is something that occurs both during games and in-between where pulling is something you only during a game? On most nights there is a team I would prefer win a game and there are teams out there that I would prefer win all their games except when playing the Sabres. There are also teams I would prefer lose all their games. Just curious how you break it down...

Maybe! I think he's betting on the Ducks this season. It worked in BU. (yea... all of this, including the Ducks tanking is not serious on my part). It's incredible just how much trouble they are having. Something is rotten there...

You're not. The thing is that the alternative has to be something along the lines of the GM speak: "We'll evaluate all options and choose the one that's right for us." Again, saying nothing while still saying something. I'd love to have the straight truth... but the general public couldn't handle it.

I wonder if Anaheim is tanking to pull in a young gun... How else does Getzlaf suck so much this year? Bring on the theories!

Player speak. He's not going to say he hated TB. He'll simply thank the fans for their support and put out some line about wanting to play close to home, etc. The actions of players have long undermined any of the words they speak (on average). There are exceptions but by and large they always say one thing and do something else. They have to because fans are not logical human beings who accept the reality of the world. If Stamkos came out and said, "Hey, you know, I'm going to go into FA and get the best deal. There are markets I have more interest in playing in should the situation be equal to here." People would lose their minds. So he can't say it, even if he, his teammates, his coaches, and the Lightning front office all know what's going on. They all have to play the game to avoid the sideshow that it would become.

Frankly, given the soft goals the O'Connor let in last season I would be looking more at his involvement. I mean, dropping the puck from your glove and into your net?

Indeed. I'd pretty much add that watching the whole thing develop is pretty awesome. I think we'll continue to enjoy the moves that are made and the improvements this team makes throughout this year and the next. It's definitely fun to watch..

Good stuff on the odds. I still disagree that he would prefer to take 8th place into the playoffs but he wins either way right? If the Sabres end up in the 25th-21st place they have a decent enough shot at a top 3 but even if they don't they still have a pretty good pick and momentum into next year which is what matters. If they make the playoffs then people will be happy no matter what. The only problem is that they have to improve even more next year. There's increased pressure but still a decent outcome. I look at the roster today and I see things stacked up quite nicely. The proper number of trade deadline players, the proper number of RFAs and the a timeline of expiring contracts that works out well with player development. The only thing with someone like McGinn is whether you want to keep a guy like that around rather than move him at the deadline. He's bound to draw interest at the rate he's playing and I am sure his pairing up with certain lines and players this year is definitely a step towards maximizing his deadline value.

There are people who do things that have no relevancy to the on ice product or at least no direct relevancy. There are also favors paid to others in hiring or throwing some "consulting" hours someone's way. It happens. None of it impacts the Sabres salary cap and if Pegula wants to throw money places then I'm fine with it. It's his money.

He was disappointed last year too and we all know his goal was not to make the team better in the standings. I firmly believe he wants 9-10th and just outside the playoffs. He wants a shot at the lottery picks and knows next year is when it all begins. He can't come out and say he wants a top 3 pick, but he can absolutely say what you refer to... "It's a nice consolation prize." There's nothing he can actually say that would be along the lines of "We're not going to make the playoffs this year, it's not even our goal." The good news is that he's in the driver seat on any moves. I don't think it's pro-tank because there wasn't a tank, there wouldn't be another one. If he moves a player he's going to get value back.

He's not.. he said it last year too. He wants to be out of the basement but not in the playoffs. He wants a shot at those top 3 picks this year.

Confessions of a Sabrespacer... I sing the goal song to myself when reading the GDT the next morning.

Stamkos is going to choose his landing spot. The Lightning are screwed. They can trade him as a rental to anyone but unless there is some kind of extension signed the return will be minimal. If they can find out where he wants to go and make a trade the return is likely to still be minimal because odds are the team he wants already knows he's going to be interested in the off-season, so why give up players? If he's interested in the Sabres then they can get him in the off season. There's no need to trade now or at the deadline for him and give up ANY skill off the roster.

I'm not surprised. I think it really boils down to HOW it is said, not WHAT was said. Therein lies the rub. We all love a conspiracy theory, some more than others. I would be incredibly interested if there was truth/proof to his claims. But.. in my life. I don't have time. :)

Totally agree here. You can see Domi put as much of the brakes on as he could at the last moment too. It's a good hard play by both sides and then class by him to retrieve the helmet. You can tell that both the CBJ players and the ARZ players understood his sportsmanship there.

She ended up being too cheesy for you? "You know Scott, you have to be cheddar in bed. You're just no gouda. I should be praising cheeses." "Why can't our relationship be more like Jack and Colby's?" "I hate you. You're such a munster! I'm outta gruyere." You know.. perhaps I should not read SS later in the day at work. My brain is crumbling..

I remember this same criticism on Ruff and how he sucked as a coach because of it. Yet he seems to be doing quite well in Dallas. The point? The shuffling that does occur (not as often lately) is probably done because there are some issues out there that we all have noticed (scoring).

The Sabres already have red in their color scheme. Perhaps the Bills should make the eye of the Buffalo gold and we'll be all set.

I'll chalk this up to... this year is a bit different. This week seems a bit odd and jammed. Sat/Mon/Tue/Thu/Sat? That's a lot of games in a short period of time. In addition, clearing out the top western teams from the schedule early on and not seeing TB for the rest of the year is also a bit odd. But The range of GP in the NHL at this point is 33-29 and the Sabres are at 32 along with quite a few others. It's just an anomaly. Bring on the conspiracies!